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Activity and Energy of Philip

It appears to me that to make a good beginning, and

The firmness and vigour of Philip in meeting the danger.

even to maintain enthusiasm long enough to
secure a considerable measure of success, is an
achievement of which many have been found
capable; but to carry a purpose through to its
end, and, even though fortune be adverse, to make up by cool
reason for the deficiency of enthusiasm is within the power of
few. From this point of view one cannot but disparage the
inactivity of Attalus and the Rhodians, while regarding with
admiration the royal and lofty spirit displayed by Philip, and
his constancy to his purpose,—not meaning to speak in praise
of his character as a whole, but simply commending the
vigour with which he acted on this occasion. I make this
distinction to prevent any one supposing that I contradict
myself, because I recently praised Attalus and the Rhodians
and found fault with Philip, whereas I am now doing
the reverse.

1, 14.

This is just such a case as I
referred to at the beginning of my history, when
I said that it was necessary sometimes to praise, and sometimes to blame the same persons, since it frequently happens
that changes of circumstances for the worse and calamities alter
men's original dispositions, and frequently also changes for the
better; and sometimes too it is the case that from natural
temperament men are at one time inclined to what is right, at
another to the reverse. And it is a variation of this sort that
I think occurred to Philip in this instance. For, irritated by
his defeats, and influenced in a great degree by anger and
passion, he addressed himself with a kind of insane or inspired
eagerness to meet the dangers of the hour; and it was in this
spirit that he rose to the attack upon the Rhodians and king
Attalus, and gained the successes which followed. I was induced
to make these remarks, because I observe that some men, like
bad runners in the stadium, abandon their purposes when close
to the goal; while it is at that particular point, more than at any
other, that others secure the victory over their rivals. . . .

This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry, Running heads in Walbank's reprint have been converted to chapter titles, and titles have been added, usually from the marginal notes, for chapters without them. Some pages have notes of the form "line X: A should read B," which I believe are Walbank's; they have "resp=fww". Summaries of missing sections are encoded as inline notes with "resp=ess." A very few unidentified quotations are marked in notes with "resp=aem" (the markup editor) Citations are marked using Perseus abbreviations. and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.

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